Monthly Archives: May 2013

My wife and I’s 17th wedding anniversary is upon us so I thought that I would share some reasons why I am so thankful to have her by my side.

First of all, if God thinks a man needs a woman then that is good enough reason for me. He created Eve for Adam so that he would not be alone, but why a woman and not a man?
Besides the obvious reason for reproduction and populating the earth, here are a few other reasons why I think men need women.

Women make us men look good.

I can’t remember the last time I went out to shop for a new shirt or pants just because I don’t like shopping. Thankfully, women do. I bet Eve was even a shopper. I could see her now, walking around the garden hoping to find the perfect set of fig leaves. I am sure she even had multiple sets in her closet to choose from and changed at least a couple times a day. Adam’s fig leaves, on the other hand, were likely turning brown, had bugs on them and were just plain ugly. I could also see Eve taking notice of Adam’s pitiful look and helping him out. Women like clothes and thankfully not just for themselves.

Women make the home look good.
I visited a church recently that was beautifully decorated. The molding, paint colors, floor, pictures and everything made you look in awe and admire it. The first thought that came to my mind was “A women was definitely involved in the decoration of this church”.
If it were up to us men, everything would be plain and blah. The walls would be white with no pictures on the wall.
I can’t remember ever going out to shop for pictures to hang on the wall. Women like to take pictures or buy pictures and then take the time to hang them on the wall.

Women also like to rearrange the room, just because. Though this may be frustrating to us men because we are the one’s asked to do the moving. Afterward it normally does look much better though and you get to clean parts of the house that normally don’t ever see a broom or vacuum cleaner.

Women like to take vacations.
My wife is usually the one coming up with ideas for vacations and planning them. She realizes the importance of getting away and spending quality time together as a couple or as a family.
If it were not for her, I am afraid that I would not be thinking about that as much and we would miss out on the many memories that have been created over the years.

Women have a good sense of feeling
When it comes to making decisions men often times try to rationalize and analyze the situation. Women on the other hand can usually make the call just based on feeling.
My wife is good at being able to absorb the soft side of everything and able to make the call just because it feels like the right thing to do. After I am done analyzing it all I always ask for her opinion because I know that I’ll be missing something if I don’t.

Yes, Men and Women are different and that is good and that was also intended by God.
Dave Ramsey says, “If both of you are alike, then one is not needed”

These are just a few reasons of many, many more why I think men need women.

I love my wife so very much. She is a great companion and help to me and I don’t know where I would be without her.

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Ever wish you had just one more hour in the day?
Have you ever found yourself saying things like…,

“There’s just not enough time in the day!”

“I don’t have time for that”

“I’m too busy”

“Wish I had more time”

“Where has the day gone?”

“If I just had 1 more hour I could…”

Is it possible to get 25 hours per day?

There is only one way and that is to wait for the fall time change each year.

We have all wished we had more time, but the fact is that we all have just 24 hrs a day.

The question then becomes, what are we doing with those 24 hrs and is it possible to change our routine slightly in order gain 1 hour to do what we want or need to do?

Most of our days can be broken down into 3 sections.

Sleep

Work

All else

When it comes to our job and time at work we really don’t have much of a choice, so let’s look at the rest of the day.

How many hours of sleep do you get each night? If you are getting more than 7, then you may be able to stand going to bed later or getting up earlier.

How much TV do you watch? If you watch more than an hour a day you could likely afford to cut back on that.

If the average person watches 2 hours of TV per day, and you don’t watch any, then you essentially now have 2 hours more per day compared to everyone else because you are using your time more effectively.

How much time are you spending or the internet or Facebook? The internet is really the new TV. I would be willing to bet that a lot of people spend more time on the internet each day than they do watching TV. It can be a time vacuum.

Look at what you are doing with your time as you go through the day and ask yourself, “Is this really necessary? Could I live without it?”

I challenge you to find some way to gain 1 extra hour per day and do something with that hour that will make you feel good.

I often found that it was difficult to get my Bible reading in each day, but I knew that it was important. Since I don’t watch much TV and stay very busy in the evenings with the family then my next best option was to cut out some sleep.

I now set my alarm clock an hour earlier and the first thing that I do each day is read the Bible. I love that quiet time with God each day.

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These words ring out loud every day at our house.
I am normally the one shouting them. Upstairs, outside and elsewhere in an effort to let the kids know that mom has dinner ready and it’s time to gather together and eat.
I am so blessed with a wife who doesn’t mind cooking dinner almost every evening. (we normally give her the weekends off)
For that, I am very thankful. I am also thankful for a job that allows me to leave work at about the same time each day so that we can have a fairly regular dinner time routine.
I look forward to getting off work each day because I know that when I get home dinner will be ready and we can all sit down, eat together and talk about our days.
I believe that this time together each day is very important for the strength of bond within our family.

A typical dinner time routine goes something like this…
I get home and mom is working hard in the kitchen trying to wrap things up. I go give her a hug and kiss and then check out what’s cooking. (most time sneak a sample when she is not looking)

The kids are normally done with their homework at this time and scattered, either playing outside, practicing the piano, studying their BQ verses or on the computer.

Mom normally likes help with setting the table. I have tried to jump in the middle of what she is doing and help with cleanup so that we don’t have to do as much afterward, but she prefers that I just help get the kids and set the table.

The kids duty is getting the glasses filled with ice and drinks. (Most of the time it’s just water as we don’t drink soda at our house, but I’ll save that for another post)

We load our plates and then start to sit down. Mom is normally the last one to sit, although I prefer getting my food last as well so that it will be hot. Nobody starts eating until we all are seated and pray. A lot of times the kids are getting anxious waiting for everyone to get their food and have a seat.

We have certain rules for dinner time…

No TV (we must sit at the table together without distractions)

No phones or electronics at the table

Phone calls coming in can wait

Nobody eats until everyone is seated and we pray

We must talk

For this post, I chose a picture of the Duck Dynasty family sitting at the dinner table praying because this is what we do as well. I like Duck Dynasty for that reason.

When it’s time to pray I take the lead most of the time, but a lot of times I will just sit there with my hands folded and head down and wait to see if someone else takes the lead in prayer. If the kids are hungry enough one of them will soon figure it out and take the initiative to prayer. It’s important for them to learn to pray out loud and not be ashamed.

Our prayers are not long, but they must be meaningful. Every now in then I may do the simple prayer of “God is great, God is good…”, but I’ll say it slow and with meaning and elaborate.

After prayer we dig in and talk about how the day went and what may be in store for the days coming.

I love dinner time and I hope that one day our kids will continue the tradition as well.

How about you? I would love to hear comments about your daily dinner routine or family time.